Sniffing plot to finish AAP, Kejriwal bats for public trial of media

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday charged there was a "conspiracy to finish off Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)" among a "very large" section of the media even as he supported "public trial" of the media.

Coming out with a strong response to the controversies in which the party finds itself involved, he said "a very big conspiracy" was going on. "A very large section of the media has accepted 'supari' for finishing off AAP," he said.

The ruling AAP has come under fire from Opposition parties over the row in connection with Delhi Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar's degree and in the matter of the alleged suicide by a farmer at a rally led by the party at Jantar Mantar here.

Stating that the matter needed to be taken up if any channel was found airing erroneous content, he declared, "If you see that a particular channel is showing something factually incorrect, then you should raise the issue.

"There can be a public trial. There can be 8-10 spots in Delhi where we can collect a group of people and show the erroneous clip. That way we can start a 'janta ka trial'." Speaking at the launch of a news website jantakareporter.com, Kejriwal defended Tomar, who is facing allegations of possessing a fake bachelor of law (LLB) degree, saying, "I have no relation with Tomar nor is he my friend. Why will I save him? As soon as allegations were were raised, I wrote to him seeking an explanation."

The chief minister added, "if you see his reply, even you will say he is innocent". "He (Tomar) is innocent and a conspiracy is being run against him," Kejriwal maintained.

"He (Tomar) has sent his brother to collect his degrees... The court has not said anything but the media is saying everything. They want him sacked," he added.

On the issue of the alleged suicide by Rajasthan farmer Gajendra Singh at an AAP rally, Kejriwal said, "Nobody had even thought that such a tragedy will occur at Jantar Mantar.

"We were sitting on the stage and where Gajendra was sitting on the tree was not visible," he said.

"Had we announced anything, a stampede could have occurred because of the large crowd," the chief minister said, adding "the police would have saved him if they knew it. When his body was brought down, he was living. We should have stopped the programme then."

Expressing regret over the incident, Kejriwal said that neither he nor the other AAP leaders could get sleep in the night after the tragedy at Jantar Mantar.

Kejriwal also touched upon topics such as the performance of the Narendra Modi government and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's engagement with farmers' issues and the recent row involving his government and Delhi Police.